Obamacare, Slaughter, and Stupak

The vote on Obamacare draws neigh, and the blogosphere is abuzz with analysis, commentary, and rebuttals of all the latest developments as the Democrats make a final bribes bid push for the votes they need, and the Republicans intensify their opposition.

John Campbell at Townhall outlines some of the tax increases embedded in the Obamacare bill.

Alleged Democrat Memo Advises to Avoid Discussing CBO Scores

A memo allegedly from the higher-ups of the Democratic Party has been circulating, advising Democrats to avoid discussions on the details of the CBO report on Obamacare, and tells them to actively mislead the public on some points of the Obamacare bill.

Politico initially ran the story, but has pulled it upon claims by Democrats that it is a Republican hoax. Fortunately, it was covered elsewhere. Ed Morrissey at Hot Air discloses that he was sent a scan of the memo by an Washington source, and provides the pdf here. Moe Lane at Red State also has a pdf of the memo.

Reconciliation, Deem-and-Pass, the CBO, and Obamacare Smackdown

There’s just so much juicy stuff on Obamacare out there, I don’t know where to begin.

Let’s start by looking at that CBO report on Obamacare, and what Obamacare will actually cost. Kevin Glass at Townhall brings up some of the budgetary manipulations that were used in the CBO report to make Obamacare look better than it is:

Judge Rules Conservative Columnist’s Opinion Pieces Not Protected By First Amendment

Conservative columnist Mike Adams, a criminology professor at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and regular contributor to Townhall, just had a federal judge rule that his opinion columns are not protected by the First Amendment — because he referred to them in a job application.

From Garrett Murch at Townhall:

A federal judge has ruled the opinion pieces written by UNC-Wilimington criminology professor and popular Townhall columnist, Mike Adams, are not protected by the First Amendment because Adams referred to them in an application for promotion.  Huh?

Adams sued after being denied promotion due to his religious views.  The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), which has come to Adams’ defense, is now considering options to appeal the decision.

In a statement, ADF Senior Counsel Jordan Lorence was quoted, “We disagree with the court’s assessment that Dr. Adams’ speech is somehow not protected by the Constitution. Opinion columns are classic examples of free speech protected by the First Amendment, and mentioning them on a promotion application does not change this fact.”

People Who Buy Green Are Mean

Meredith Jessup at Townhall points to an interesting psychological study that indicates that people who practice “green consumerism” tend to be more mean and less sociable to other people:

Canadian psychologists Nina Mazar and Che-Bo Zhong have concluded that people who wear a “halo of green” are less likely to be kind to others and more likely to engage in “selfish and morally questionable behavior.”

This would certainly explain why Al Gore is ok with running up monthly electric bills higher than most people’s annual salaries, all the while lecturing the rest of us on the need to save electricity.

According to Mazar and Zhong’s study, when people practice “green consumerism,” they inflate their own egos for their efforts in saving the planet.  These “virtuous” acts–buying organic, for example–”can license subsequent asocial and unethical behaviours,” they write.  In other words, people who buy green tend to be stuck on themselves and not very neighborly …

Five Names in Liberal Violence

Given the recent fuss over the blame game in the media regarding politically motivated violence, John Hawkins from Right Wing News has written an article for Townhall covering five big names on the left — organizations and people — that have committed (or attempted to commit) acts of politically motivated violence, but have been largely ignored by the mainstream media.

Obama Anounces Education Overhaul

From the New York Times:

The Obama administration on Saturday called for a broad overhaul of President George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind law, proposing to reshape divisive provisions that encouraged instructors to teach to tests, narrowed the curriculum, and labeled one in three American schools as failing.

Wow, that’s some pretty unbiased journalism right there. Ignore the fact that the bill was written by Ted Kennedy, bring up the “teach to the test” nonsense, and blame the bill for the fact that America’s schools are failing.

Texas Textbooks and School Social Studies Curricula

The Texas Board of Education has approved social studies curriculum changes put forth by conservative critics. The conservative push on the curriculum came partially as a result of efforts by a Hispanic groups to include more material on Hispanic figures and history in textbooks, as well as a perceived liberal bias in modern textbooks.

The New York Times covers the story:

Tea Parties and Social Coservatism

The Politico has a column discussing the libertarian streak in the Tea Party movement and how it relates to socially conservative groups, especially religious groups, that may feel that their concerns are being ignored.

A reeling economy and the massive bank bailout and stimulus plan were the triggers for a resurgence in support for the Republican Party and the rise of the tea party movement. But they’ve also banished the social issues that are the focus of many evangelical Christians to the background.

Patrick Kennedy Meltdown

Patrick Kennedy gets frothy at the mouth because he thinks the media are spending too much time covering the whole Massa Mess and not enough time on the war in Afghanistan.

Greg Hengler at Townhall provides the video. Robert Stacy McCain at The Other McCain also has the video, as well as some snark. So does Gregory of Yardale at Moonbattery.